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Chapter 3. Midgard 80
ings found expression in traditions about a solitary being called by various
names. 31
Some of the farm beings recorded are Tomte (in the northwestern districts), Nisse
(in the southeastern), Gaardvord (literally, “yard-guardian”),Tusse, (invisible farmhand),
and Tunkell who seems to have held the “luck” of the farm from the original
man-settler onwards and was attached specifically to a farm and not to the family
as were the Nisse or the Tomte. Also there is another interesting dweller, a Haugbui
(literally, a “mound-dweller) who may or may not have been ancestral in nature;
the dwelling in the mound may have been a burial place. Other terms occasionally
crossed in the sagaic literature are Armaðr and Spámaðr. The function of many of
these beings overlap and not all farms had them all as non-organic inhabitants.
Some of the beings appear to be closely attached to the human household while
others are more attached to the land. The armaðr (literally, “hearth man”) as
described in the saga of Ólaf Tryggvasson is one who seems attached to the household
and in stories where a family packs belongings and moves such a being will often
move with them; however, the tunkell is attached to the luck of the land. Kvideland
and Sehmsdorf paraphrasing Svale Solheim from a 1951 article on “Yard-fellows”
state that
“Solheim interprets the Norwegian materials as the remains of an ancient
ancestral cult; according to Solheim, the tunkell represents the original owner
of the farm, and, thus, the sum of good luck and prosperity associated with
the farm.” 32
Although these beings were associated with the land specifically, it was possible
to drive them out by destroying the residence, often an outbuilding or bunkhouse,
which became a common act after the introduction of new agricultural techniques
and due to the indifference or antagonism of Christianity towards providing a special
dwelling area for these land-spirits.
Offerings are reported to have been left for these domestic spirits well into this
century, but the attitude of the general populace, as recorded in modern folklore,
towards these beings has been slowly leaning towards the view of them as a nuisance
rather than a blessing. However, the 1994 Winter Olympics opening ceremony from
Lillehammer, Norway, included scenes of land-spirits in a choreographed “battle”
with “trolls” (landvættir) which may represent a shift in attitude toward this part of
the northern Germanic heritage since the “good” land-spirits were indeed presented
in a traditional beneficent fashion.
31 op. cit., p. 238.
32 Kvideland and Sehmsdorf, p. 247, 1988.